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NASB | Hebrews 6:4 For in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Hebrews 6:4 For [it is impossible to restore to repentance] those who have once been enlightened [spiritually] and who have tasted and consciously experienced the heavenly gift and have shared in the Holy Spirit, |
Bible Question:
BTW, those nice, neat little boxes may appear to be helpful but I feel that they are damaging to the body of Christ. The Holy Spirit did not baptize us into nice, neat little boxes but into one Body - Rom 12:5, 1 Cor 12:13,27; Eph 5:30; Col 1:24. Our identity, as Christians, is His body, the church. We are children of God. Nothing more and, certainly, nothing less. Our beliefs about who we are and what we believe should rest on Christ and scripture alone. To categorize believers into Calvinist, Armenian, Dispensationalist, Baptist, Catholic, Reformed, and any of a thousand other names is neither warranted nor supported by scripture. In fact, this was one of Paul's rebukes to the church at Corinth. "I hear that divisions exist among you...for there must also be factions among you." Then he went on to reitterate how the Lord's body, the church, is one loaf but consists of many members. He pegs modern Christianity in 1 Cor 1:12: "Now I mean this, that each one of you is saying, "I am of Paul," and "I of Apollos," and "I of Cephas," and "I of Christ." Only we say, "I am of Calvin, I am of Armenius (or whatever his name was), I am of Luther, I am of the Westminister Confession." These things are, but they should not be. The end result is that when a person comes to this forum seeking an answer from the Bible, we resort to: 'As a Calvinist...' then an Armenian has to reply, 'As an Armenian...' So instead of getting an answer straight from the Bible, we post responses from other people. This is because we do not trust God to reveal Himself to US through scripture. We think that you have to be a Scofield, a Ryrie, a Luther, a Calvin to correctly understand scripture. The Holy Spirit said that He would lead us into all truth. Do we believe this? I think not or we wouldn't be so quick to identify ourselves with others whom God has spoken to. I mourn for the church of Jesus Christ because most of us have no idea who were are. When will we understand that you are either in Adam or in Christ? When we will reply, "As a child of the living, true God, here is what the scripture says concerning this issue...?" When will we come out from behind our false identities, leave behind our platitudes, and respond with truth in love? This is not meant as a personal rebuke against you, dear Reformer Joe. This is meant as an observation for all those who name the name of Christ. I hope and pray as Christ did in John 17:21 - "that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me." A child of God only by His grace, Bill Mc |
Bible Answer: Dear Bill Mc and Reformer Joe, I hesitate to jump in on your discussion here, but felt that it was important. You are both bringing up many good points about the original purpose of this thread regarding salvation. However, I must disagree with this last post regarding "labels" within Christianity. Perhaps I misunderstand you Bill Mc, but it seems to me that you are saying two things. The first is that it is purely divisive to have Christians call themselves by labels such as Calvinist or Armenian. The second is that by doing so they are neglecting the fact that they are either "in Adam or in Christ". First of all, I would like to say that I have purposely stayed out of any discussions thus far on this forum regarding Calvinism/Armenianism, and I don't want to start another one here. However, I do not think that it is the label that causes the division. The division is caused by the fact that there are two (at least) interpretations of the scripture which both appear to be valid and reasonable. The only thing that the label does is save time typing and reading. One could say, "becuase you believe blah, blah, and blah" (with each blah being an entire paragraph itself). However, it is much easier to say, "becuase you agree with the interpretation of so-and-so". This is especially important on this forum. Because of the different perspectives that people have, they have different answers to the questions people ask. They also have different ideas as to what specific verses mean at times. I agree with you that this is at times unfortunate, but not always. Sometimes it is helpful to see things from a different angle. Also, I believe that it is inevitable. True believers have debated some of these theological points for centuries without comming to a consensus. I find it unlikely that all Christians in the world will ever believe the same thing about everything until we get to heaven. This is because right now we only see in part, but then we shall see completely (1 Cor 13:12). I do want to agree with you on one important point and that is that each Christian needs to really search the scriptures to discover what they personally believe. It is not healthy to just accept the interpretations of another person (Calvin or Armenius) or even church without reflection. However, after a Christian discovers what they believe, they will probably be aligned relatively closely with at least one orthodox perspective, and I see no reason that they should not for efficiency sake, be opposed to identifying with others who think the same thing. |